The story of the deaths of founding Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, as detailed in David McCullough's "John Adams," should be retold every Fourth of July.

The story's impact rests on the dedication of both to the teachings of Jesus. Adams considered becoming a Christian minister, before turning to law. Jefferson assembled his preferred gospel passages into a book, "Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth."

Adams has stated that the Declaration of Independence's words, "created equal [in rights] ... to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," were based on the equality "at the heart of Christianity."

Jefferson wrote the Declaration. But it was Adams' eloquence that convinced the Continental Congress to risk all by signing it.

Invited to the 50th celebration of the signing, Adams, 90, and Jefferson, 83, were too ill. But both were determined to live until the Fourth.

On July 3, Jefferson lay dying. Waking, he declared, "It is the Fourth of July!" Learning the day, he postponed death until the next morning.

Adams also lay dying, while a thunderstorm raged. Told it was the Fourth, he exclaimed, "It is a good day!"

The storm dissolved into gentle rain. A final thunderclap shook the house and a shaft of sunlight shot through the clouds.

At that instant, John Adams died.

His contemporaries called these amazing coincidences a miracle. Whatever our interpretation, their significance inspires us.

Let America remember this story every Independence Day. Trumpeting our equal rights, it is our "fireworks in the sky."

Barbara Findley Stuart

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